TH3 G4M3
by Mein Liebling
Summary: You thought the game was just that- a game. You never thought it would so drastically change your life, or that you'd grow so attached to the people inside of it. [Video Game!AU]
1. G4M3 5T4RT

**Notes:** As I am writing this waiting for Neon Evangelion to load. Something went strange and my old author's note was deleted, so I am here now fixing it. Please read on!

**FF screwed up my word count, darn it.**

**Competitions and Challenges this is entered in:** The Long Haul Competition lll,

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter. I only own my idea and character that is far from being a perfect human being, thank you.

* * *

_THE GAME_

_HARRY POTTER: THE JOURNEY OF ENGIMA _

* * *

**Would you like to start the game?**

**Yes**

**No**

…

**Would you like to start the game?**

Yes*

**No**

…

**Welcome to **_Harry Potter: The Many Years of a Wizard, _**a game filled with magic, danger, Dark Lords, and fun for every one of all ages! Please pick one of the following characters to begin, or choose the 'make your own character' button to make your own!**

**Harry Potter**

**Hermione Granger**

**Ronald Weasley**

**Ginevra Weasley**

**Draco Malfoy**

**Sirius Black**

**Narcissa Malfoy**

**Albus Dumbledore**

**Moaning Myrtle**

**Gellert Grindlewald**

**Arthur Weasley**

**Salazar Slytherin**

**Make Your Own Character**

…

******Welcome to **_Harry Potter: The Many Years of a Wizard, _******a game filled with magic, danger, Dark Lords, and fun for every one of all ages! Please pick one of the following characters to begin, or choose the 'make your own character' button to make your own!**

Harry Potter*

**Hermione Granger**

**Ronald Weasley**

**Ginevra Weasley**

**Draco Malfoy**

**Luna Lovegood**

**Sirius Black**

**Nyphadora Tonks**

**Narcissa Malfoy**

**Albus Dumbledore**

**Bellatrix Lestrange**

**Arthur Weasley**

**Make Your Own Character**

…

_Would you like to use 'Harry Potter'?_

_Yes_

_No_

…

_Would you like to use 'Harry Potter'?_

_Yes_

**_No*_**

…

******Welcome to **_Harry Potter: The Many Years of a Wizard, _******a game filled with magic, danger, Dark Lords, and fun for every one of all ages! Please pick one of the following characters to begin, or choose the 'make your own character' button to make your own!**

**Harry Potter**

**Hermione Granger**

**Ronald Weasley**

**Ginevra Weasley**

**Draco Malfoy**

**Sirius Black**

**Narcissa Malfoy**

**Albus Dumbledore**

**Moaning Myrtle**

**Gellert Grindlewald**

**Arthur Weasley**

**Salazar Slytherin**

Make Your Own Character*

…

_Would you like to use 'Make Your Own Character'?_

_Yes_

_No_

…

_Would you like to use 'Make Your Own Character'?_

**_Yes*_**

_No_

…

**Greetings player! You have joined the magical community of Harry Potter and now inhabit the body of **Your Character **and shall continue doing so until the end of the game! The rules and idea of this game are simple.**

**You shall go through **Your Character**'s life from beginning to end (for characters that survived the War, this means the epilogue) and experience the true Potter experience!**

**The rules of the game are:**

_-YOU CAN'T EXIT THE GAME ONCE YOU HAVE STARTED. Once you have joined the game you are unable to exit until your character is dead. You may only eject from the game if you have passed the first checkpoint. In reality the only time that has passed will be approximately 5 minutes. You will feel the need to eat, sleep, and relieve yourself like your character would through the game's simulators._

_-YOU CAN'T PREVENT ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN CANON. This means that Draco must be a Slytherin, Sirius Black MUST die in the Ministry, the Weasleys must be poor, and all the other canon sequences. You can't go to London and kill Tom Marvolo Riddle to prevent Lord Voldemort. Anything changed in the canon universe shall immediately eject you from the game and you shall be banned from the game for an indefinite amount of time._

_-YOU MAY NOT TELL ANYONE IN THE GAME THAT YOU ARE PLAYING THE GAME. This is for secrecy reasons and all creatures playing in your universe are computers, or people disguised and monitoring your progress. Depending on who you would tell, you would either end up in jail at the Ministry (an immediate eject from the game) or being brought forth to the game animators, also an immediate ejection._

_-YOU WILL RECEIVE THE MEMORIES OF YOUR CHARACTER AND ALL MEMORIES OF YOUR REALITY SHALL BE PUSHED TO THE BACK OF YOUR MIND UNTIL YOU RETURN TO REALITY. You shall not forget the memories, but they will be shoved in the dusty corner of your mind until you have awoken in reality._

_-YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF EXTREMELY DIFFERENT WHEN THE GAME IS OVER. [Potterhead Inc. is not to be blamed for any suicides, insanity, bipolarness, or any other mental or physical health issues one might have received at the end of the game.]_

_-_**_THIS GAME IS DANGEROUS. _**_YOU ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK._

…

**_Would you like to start the game?_**

**_Yes_**

**_No_**

…

**_Would you like to start the game?_**

_Yes*_

**_No_**

…

The screen went black around the player, and he panicked. 'Did I click something wrong?' he wondered, hastily letting go of the mouse and began pawing through the stacks of papers on your desk, looking for the instruction manual.

However, just as the boy let out a cry of 'Ahaha!' and held triumphantly the packet, pixels began to emerge _from _the screen, and he felt the rest of the world fade away- his bedroom was gone from his sight, as was his computer, manual, and computer chair. The boy learned the hard way with the last one, as he fell unceremoniously to the floor.

"W-What?"

He scrambled to stand up, and looked around. As far as his eyes could see, he saw black. Just blackness. Up and down, nothing. He couldn't see what he was standing on, or how far or high the darkness lasted. The player felt extremely unsettled, and nervously peered around, beginning to wonder if the game was fake and he was forever stranded in darkness.

"H-Hello?"

As soon as the last syllable left his lips, the blackness slowly morphed into a dark grey, then a lighter grey, and finally a bright and shining light that secretly might have made him prefer the noir. The background became frosted over, and a mysterious chair appeared right next to the boy.

**-SIT- **the words flew across his vision, directly in front of him.

"Huh?"

**-SIT, SO YOU MAY BE ABLE TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR CHARACTER AND GO OVER THE RULES-**

"O-Oh, okay."

Very strange, he thought, as he sat down uncomfortably at the provided chair. He had no idea how he was sitting- if he was actually there physically or instead having the game control his mental landscape- but either way, it was pretty awesome. And disconcerning. But he would have to admit that this place was pretty cool.

As soon as he sat down, the words on the (screen? Air? Whatever it was.) wall changed again.

**-MALE OR FEMALE OR AMBIGUOUS?-**

"Where's the controller?" The player asked confusedly, looking around for the item so he could choose.

**-MALE OR FEMALE OR AMBIGUOUS?-**

"I know, I know. Male-"

There was a 'click!' and the words changed again. He, who was looking around, glanced at the screen to see that more words had replaced the others.

**-SHORT OR LONG HAIR?-**

"How did-? Short?" The boy watched as it changed once again. "I just say the words commands out loud?"

**-COLOUR OF HAIR?-**

"Uh, brown?"

**-COLOUR OF EYES?-**

He smiled jokingly as he said, "Red!"

Wait-

Oh no.

It went through.

Where was the backspace button?

He didn't want red eyes! "Back! Back!" It was a joke!

**-PLEASE SAVE THE GAME-**

"No, back! Delete!"

**-PLEASE SAVE THE GAME-**

**-PLEASE SAVE THE GAME- **

**-PLEASE SAVE THE GAME-**

For every time he yelled out the word 'back', the screen flashed again with the saving screen.

Finally, he decided to give up and mutely called out "Save game."

The screen created a loading bar for a brief second, before the room became dark again. A lightning bolt flashed on the screen, pulsing with green and yellow energy, before a green spider web slowly emerged from behind it, encasing the lightning bolt before the lightning bolt shined a startling white blue and destroyed the spider web.

The teenager let out a gasp at the display- it was like fireworks were going off in front of him, with bright colours and flashing lights- and was slightly disappointed when the lightning bolt pulsed once more and disappeared in a swirl of a green web.

One moment he was watching the lightning bolt, and then next the world was black again, and a strange feeling of sleepiness overcame him. He tried to fight against the impulse, thinking that he couldn't fall asleep at a moment like this, but his body didn't listen as he slowly closed his eyes, his breathing evening out as the darkness covered him like a blanket.

He knew no more.


	2. F1R5T M0V3

**Notes:** Such a good response on the last chapter. I'm surprised. Thanks _percychased _(my dearest love) for reviewing!

Quick note, I had to switch the second person pov to third person pov because when I tried to plan ahead to later chapters I realized that the second person would not work very well, so I went back and edited it. Darn. I rather liked it in second person.

**Competitions and Challenges this is entered in:** The Long Haul Competition, more to be announced in later chapters, probably something really random.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter. I only own my idea and character that is far from being a perfect human being, thank you.

* * *

_THE GAME_

_HARRY POTTER: THE JOURNEY OF ENGIMA _

* * *

The room was dark.

Except for the thin stream of light that was entering through the windows, everything was muffled in the dark curtain of black. You could barely make out the bed shoved in the corner, the small desk overflowing with books and clothes and toys in the crook parallel, and miscellaneous items piled in various places across the small bedroom.

The large lump on the bed let out a groan and turned in its sleep, unconsciously revealing a puff of brown hair underneath the blanket. The lump didn't stir again for a few minutes, until a soft knocking could be heard on the door to the room.

"Nikolai? Time to wake up, sweetie." The voice was soft and feminine, and it was clearly heard through the piece of wood. "Nikolai? I let you sleep in, so don't come complaining to me about how you're tired. It's time to get up, Luminita wants to see you."

"Luminita _always _wants to see me, mum…" the boy muttered sleepily, yawning and rubbing his eyes as he heard his mother letting out a soft sigh from behind the door.

"She just wants to play with you; you haven't spent a lot of time with her in a little while, you're always cooped up in your room. Anyways, breakfast will be ready in ten minutes, get dressed."

"Fine, I'll play with her more. Why do I need to get dressed?"

"Why? Did you forget? We're going to Diagon Alley today, your father has some business he must attend to at Gringotts and I promised Luminita we could go see the owls." His mother sounded slightly confused, but she must have shrugged it off, since a few moments later Nikolai could hear her footsteps retreating down the stairs and a small murmur of conversation start up in the kitchen, where Luminita and his father were probably sitting.

Nikolai had the strangest feeling that something was off. There was something, deep in the back of his head, screaming at him that this morning felt different from all the rest. And it did. So what was going on?

The brown haired boy shook his head and untangled himself from the mess of blankets he had created. He yawned loudly and stretched his arms high above his head, letting out a small groan as he felt cracks and pops in his spine settled back into place. He scratched his head and moved lethargically towards the window on the far wall, where he pulled open the curtain to expose the dark, gloomy room to some much needed light.

Nikolai let out a hiss when the sun blinded his eyes for a second, and he covered them for a moment and blinked as to not hurt them again. When he opened them for a second time, he found the room lit well and the sun no longer a harsh fiend and he turned to his desk.

There was nothing strange about his desk, at his first glance. All his toys, clothes, and other piles of junk were where they usually were. Nothing seemed to be in the wrong place. But then, he caught sight of something small and thin rolled up on top of the pile, and he curiously picked up it with a little difficulty.

He unrolled it and felt the knot in his stomach made itself known once more.

_Greetings Player!_

_You have entered the magical world of Harry Potter and now shall remain so until you are ejected from the game! _

_You are probably feeling quite strange right now, as you should be. You are remembering all your memories of your real life and are freaking out since you- quite obviously- are not in your home and have no idea what's going on. You are in your 'life' that you created._

_You should have all the memories and knowledge you need to live in this world. You know your name, your family's name, age, and other facts to prove your identity should it be needed._

_A reminder, all memories of your real life shall be pushed back until you completely forget they are there when you're not directly thinking about them. Do not be afraid, as the game moderators shall make sure you get a dose of your own life at the end of every 'week' spent in the game so you do not completely forget your own world and end up in a state of shock and illness when you are ejected from the game._

_**[Potterhead Inc. is not to be blamed for any suicides, insanity, bipolarness, or any other mental or physical health issues one might have received at the end of the game.]**_

_All choices in the game are up to you now, you have control over your life in this realm. Do not stray farther than necessary from the canon time-line of the Harry Potter stories or you shall be ejected. Take control over all the plot holes. Make friends with the characters only see in the backgrounds. Find out your wand and what house you'll be in, your boggart and you patronus. _

_Welcome to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Player._

_-The Potterhead Inc. Team_

Nikolai's eyes were wide as everything that had happened flashed before him. He created his character- _who he guessed he was now? How strange… and awesome… but really strange- _and then fell asleep at the most inconvenient moment, and now he was here?

More so, why hadn't he reacted when his mother- but she wasn't his mother? But everything in his heart yelled 'mother', but the logical part of him screamed 'No'. It seemed like she wasn't his mother, although she raised him. He had memories of them laughing and playing, of his father tossing him into the pool during the summer and of himself throwing Luminita in the air while she screamed with happiness, much to his mother's worry.

That couldn't all be fake, right?

He stared down at the letter, and thought more about his family. Or what he thought was his family. His father was the Romanian ambassador to Wizarding Britain, apparently, so he knew both languages fluently.

…Cool!

He always thought that Romania was awesome and now he could claim that he was half Romanian? Sweet.

And then he thought more about his mother, who was the daughter of some rich family with power in the government, and she and his father met and fell in love, got married, gave birth to him, and the last year gave birth to his one year old sister, Luminita, who apparently worshiped the ground Nikolai walked on and was the best little sister he could ever ask for.

Nikolai always wanted a younger sibling, being an only child before he came here.

As for himself?

His full name was Nikolai Leon Vladimirescu, which was super cool because apparently his father hailed from the Transylvanian portion of Romania, and if his last name and Transylvanian parentage meant that he wasn't a vampire-ish person, he'd bite himself.

_I officially love this game!_

He was also seven, at the moment, which explained why he had such trouble trying to grab the piece of paper now in his hands before. He was short, not something he particularly liked, as he was short-ish in his real life also, and he was a wizard.

A real life wizard.

Or would it be game life?

He could spend his whole life in the game pondering philosophically at the game life versus real life, but as he didn't have much time left (his whole debate within himself took about seven minutes) he would quickly have to throw on some clothes and head downstairs to meet his family for breakfast.

His game family.

Not his real family, like his mother that was a workaholic lawyer who always was flying off to Belgium or Guam or someplace like that, or his father who worked at the local library and drove him around to his swim meets or basketball games. This was his family, who all laughed merrily and spent a lot of time together and they were the perfect people. They made his heart warm when just thinking about them.

This was like the perfect life he'd always wanted.

Nikolai, caught up in his new life, hastily threw on some clothes he found on his desk and practically bolted out of the room and down the stairs, smiling happily when he heard his mother shout 'No running in the house!' and Luminita's delighted, bubbly laugh as he slid into the kitchen.

Yes. He could get used to this.


	3. F1R5T 4CH13VM3NT UNL0CK3D

**Notes:** Hello folks! I'm glad you guys like this. I'm really happy with it so far. :) (Mostly for making past week one and _still_ have ideas to continue this.) Thanks for the follows and favourites! I really appreciate every single one. Thanks for _KeepsAwayTheNargles_ for reviewing.

I can't wait until later (like sixty chapters from now) because I have my brilliant other character that I adore that I want to add in. Oooh, maybe I can add them in earlier. Yes I can. Good idea me. Mwahaha!

**Competitions and Challenges this is entered in:** The Long Haul Competition lll, more to be announced in later chapters, probably something really random.

**Currently Listening To: **Things We Lost in the Fire by Bastille

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter. I only own my idea and character(s) that is far from being a perfect human being, thank you.

* * *

_THE GAME_

_HARRY POTTER: THE JOURNEY OF ENGIMA _

* * *

When Nikolai entered the kitchen, he had both an idea of what he would expect, and a sense of nervousness and unknowing. It flushed his cheeks and made him stand in wonder when he finally skidded to a halt in the kitchen.

The sight that greeted him was something he saw usually every morning. His mother was standing behind the counter, moving around the scrambled eggs on the frying pan while a large tea kettle was pouring itself, and pieces of toast were being buttered by an invisible hand. His father was sitting at the table, trying to read the paper but instead mostly trying to keep his little sister from shoving the cooling porridge on the table into her mouth. Luminita was giggling happily as she clapped her hands together, her short brown hair messy and her pink and blue clothing covered by a small bib.

"Ah! Wonderful for you to join us, Nikolai. I was a bit afraid that I would have to go upstairs with a bucket of water to wake you up today." Nikolai's father, Lucian, cheerfully called out to his only son. Nikolai stuck out his tongue in reply and muttered under his breath, "I'm not _that _bad…"

"Yes, you are that bad, sweetie. Now come on and eat, we're leaving in half an hour."

The brown haired seven year old grumbled but grabbed a bowl of porridge sitting on the table, making sure it wasn't the one nearest to Luminita. He quietly thanked his mother, as she brought him a plate of eggs and toast, and began chewing on the offered food.

"So we're going to Diagon Alley?"

"Yes, I already told you. Your father's going to Gringotts-"

"-And then the Ministry," Lucian cut in, making Nikolai's mother, Mary, look at him in confusion. "One of the other ambassador's dropped off a file that I need to pick up, but don't worry. I should be out of there by twelve."

Mary didn't look very happy about this news, with her biting her lip and brushing a piece of light brown hair out of her eyes. "Fine, but you're bringing Nikolai with you."

"What? Why?" Nikolai interrupted their conversation, furrowing his eyebrows. The Ministry was always _sooo_ boring. It was filled with people who acted like they were the best at everything, and some of the other ambassadors creeped him out. Like the French one, with the really thick accent; and the Norwegian one, that had a son a few years older than him, and both the ambassador and his son were really cold and stoic.

"Because one, you've been stuck in this house for three days straight and you need to get out, two, this will be a good learning experience, and three, you said you liked going out with Dad, and neither I nor Luminita can last that long in Diagon Alley and the Ministry to come with you two."

Nikolai frowned and crossed his arms, moodily staring down into his porridge. "…Fine."

Mary shook her head and patted Nikolai's, before moving over to Luminita and helping Lucian spoon mush into Luminita's mouth. "I don't understand you, sometimes, dear. You used to like going to the Ministry."

"But it's so _boring_…"

"Shush. You're going and that's final."

Nikolai sighed and pushed around his porridge, his thoughts running through his head until he settled on one. _Why did he hate the Ministry?_

All of his reality came crashing down on him once more, and Nikolai was stunned when he learned how _easy _it was to completely let the memories of his character override his real ones. He just… fell into the habit. He was surrounded by familiar things that made him lose track of actuality. It was crazy. It made him feel slightly homesick.

He didn't want to forget the memories he had of his real parents. Of his goofy father always trying to do his best to understand swimming rules or basketball plays, or of his mother, who despite being gone most of the time, always made the best enchiladas and tostadas and tried hard to make up for all the time she missed.

He didn't want to forget them.

Only when he remembered the letter, which said that every week someone would come and make him remember that he was in a very realistic video game, and the fact that it would only be five minutes in the real world that had passed when he was ejected from the game, consoled him.

**First Checkpoint Achieved!**

**You Have Earned:**

**Meeting The Family - _500 points_**

**Thinking Too Hard - _250 points_**

**Shoveling Down Mush - _40 points_**

**Total Until Level Two: _790/2,000 points_**

"H-H-Huh!?"

His mother looked up at him, confusedly, as she was trying to shove some porridge into his sister's mouth. "Nikolai? What's wrong?"

Nikolai blinked and pointed at the words floating above the breakfast table. "There!"

This caught his father's attention also. "What? Where?"

"Above the table, there's words!"

Both his parents frowned and looked at one another. "There's nothing there dear, are you feeling alright?"

Nikolai blinked and stared at the black words, reading 'checkpoints' and 'meeting the family'. Suddenly, he remembered that this must be his points keeper. Instead of having it down at the bottom of the screen, it would just pop up when something like checkpoints or achievements were earned.

Cool!

But very inconvenient, since now his parents probably thought he was crazy.

"Never mind, mum, dad. I just thought I saw something. It must have been a fly."

"...If you're sure, darling."

Soon breakfast passed without another hitch, and Nikolai found himself nearly bouncing in his shoes, rolling up and down on the balls of his feet impatiently, as his parents rushed around the house, gathering purses and folders and glasses and then _finally _they were all standing in front of the fireplace, with Mary carrying Luminita and Lucian holding the Floo Powder pot.

"Alright, Nikolai, do you remember how to use Floo Powder?"

Nikolai nodded eagerly, reaching for the pot, but Lucian held it higher than his seven year old body could reach, and explained how to use the traveling powder anyways.

"Take a small handful of the powder and throw it into the fire. Step into the fireplace, and yell out 'Diagon Alley', and make sure you say it really clear, okay? Keep your elbows tucked in and when you get to the Leaky Caldron, wait for Mummy and I to come with Luminita, okay?"

"Yes!" Nikolai reached for the pot with his small hands, barely being able to contain his excitement about travelling by _Floo_ _Powder._

The brown haired boy had his hair ruffled, much to his distaste, and Lucian lowered the Floo Powder pot so he could reach it.

Nikolai threw the powder into the fireplace, and watched with bright, curious eyes as the flames leaped into the air, in all their Irish green glory. He recalled the steps his father had just told him, and stepped cautiously into the fire.

It was completely against everything he'd ever known, and Nikolai found himself fighting against putting his whole body in the fire, but once he stuck his toe into the green flames and found that it just felt like lukewarm wind was brushing against his feet, he stepped all the way into the fire.

It was probably the strangest thing he'd ever done.

(But then he realized, that this was probably one of the most _normal _things he would be facing entering the Wizarding World.)

Nikolai loudly called out 'Diagon Alley!' and without another word, he was whisked away, all hesitation disappeared from his body as he was surrounded in the green flames, them covering him, pushing him this way and that. His elbows hit something hard that he couldn't see, and he let out a yell that made him lose all the oxygen in his lungs. He gasped for air, but the flames had nicked it all up, along with the carbon he had just let out. The brown haired boy felt dizzy as the fire began to do a dance around him, and he felt like he was going to cry with relief when it suddenly stopped, and the flames, once welcoming and inviting, _tossed _him out of the fireplace without a second to think.

The Romanian let out a loud groan as he fell ungracefully to the ground, and curled up, hugging his stomach, never minding the fact that he was covered in soot and the floor was dirty.

"Hey, you alright kid?" Nikolai blearily looked up from the floor to see an old man standing over him, a concerned look on the bartender's face. "That was quite a tumble you took there. Where's your parents?"

"I-I'm fine. My parents should be coming through soon with my sister."

The old man nodded, and held out a hand to help the boy up. "Aright, well, until they come, let's get you cleaned up. I don't think you'd like to head out covered in soot."

Nikolai looked down at himself, as if for the first time noticing that he was drenched in sticky black dust. "Yes please!"


	4. D14G0N 4LL3Y

**Notes:** Thanks again for the follows/favourites! Appreciated, as always, as is Priya darling (sleepy queens) for reviewing! Okay, if someone doesn't realize where I'm getting all these names from, I'm going to scream because I'm just dying here.

When I'm done with this, I'm going to be combining the chapters because I don't really like how short they are. But that's when I'm going to be done with this story, and we have a lot of Hogwarts years to go through, not to mention summers and stuff. This is going to be awesome. I'm trying to make this show people the other sides of the Wizarding World, and I hope I can do so.

**Competitions and Challenges this is entered in:** The Long Haul Competition lll, more to be announced in later chapters, probably something really random.

**Currently Listening To: **Angel With a Shotgun by the Cab

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter. I only own my idea and character(s) that are far from being perfect human beings, thank you.

* * *

_THE GAME_

_HARRY POTTER: THE JOURNEY OF ENGIMA _

* * *

Nikolai's parent s came through a few minutes after Tom- as that was the bartender's name, the young boy learned- had _Evanesco_'d away all the soot from Nikolai's clothing, and had given him a free Butterbeer to calm his stomach down. Nikolai learned then that he absolutely _adored _Butterbeer, and nearly choked himself by trying to down the whole thing at once.

"Woah, kid! Don't kill yourself." Tom laughed, patting the wheezing boy on the back. "The drink ain't going anywhere."

The brown haired boy reluctantly slowed down and noisily slurped his drink, as his mother suddenly appeared in the fireplace that roared a bright green, and immerged looking a lot less flustered then Nikolai was, and a lot more gracefully. "Are you okay dear? I'm sorry for taking so long. We had a bit of trouble getting Luminita through the fireplace, so your father's going to apparate here with her."

The part Romanian shook his head as Tom nodded his. "It's been a while since I've seen you, Mary!" the old man greeted, smiling warmly at Nikolai's brown haired mother. "Your son did have a little trouble with the Floo Powder, just normal problems, don't worry. I gave the kid a Butterbeer. He seems to like it almost as much as you do!"

Mary just laughed and patted her seven year old on the head. "That's my boy." She leaned down and stage whispered to him, "Don't worry, I'm still not very good at Floo Powder." Nikolai snorted into his drink.

Just then, Lucian arrived through the back door, leading out to the Alley, holding Luminita and looking rather frazzled. His face relaxed when he caught sight of Mary and Nikolai, and hoisted Luminita back on his hip. "Ah, there you are!" he noticed Tom. "Tom! Wonderful to see you!"

"You too, Lucian!" Tom greeted back, before smiling apologetically as another customer called for him. "Have a good time in the Alley!"

"Thanks, we will!"

Mary grabbed Nikolai's hand and pulled him off his chair, making the boy laugh as his mother acted like an overexcited child headed to Diagon Alley. She met Lucian at the door and took Luminita from him, and Nikolai felt a sense of excitement bubble in his stomach as his father got out his wand and tapped the bricks.

The wall opened less flashily then he expected. One moment the wall was whole, looking like, well, a wall, and the next it was cleaning spreading outwards, not disrupting the finish but making space for a large hole that they could walk through. It was strange. The wall didn't _move _or _disappear_, it just… it looked like the middle part of it was sent to another dimension, but that dimension was _this _dimension.

Nikolai couldn't explain it, only look on in wonder at the Alley that had suddenly appeared before his eyes. The streets weren't too crowded, it seems like they had made it before the rush. The shops already had their wares out, and the wine eyed boy stared as several post owls emerged from the post office window, carrying large packages of mail and parcels to be delivered that day.

[**New Location Achieved!**

**Diagon Alley – **_**1,000 points **_

**Total Until Level Two: **_**1,790/2,000 points**_

**New Goals Earned!**

**First Butterbeer – **_**100 points**_

**First Time in Diagon Alley – **_**100 points**_

**Didn't Fail Like Harry Using Floo Powder **– _**100**__**points**_

.

**CONGRATULATIONS PLAYER! **

**YOU HAVE BEEN ELEVATED TO LEVEL TWO!**

**YOU HAVE EARNED 5 EXPERIENCE POINTS FROM DOING SO.**

**PLEASE WAIT UNTIL YOU START YOUR HOGWARTS JOURNEY TO ADD IN YOUR EXPERIENCE POINTS.**

**Total Until Level Three: **_**90/5,000 points**_]

The stones under his feet gleamed, like someone had just washed them, and the small shops packed together didn't give off a crowded feel, on the contrary, it gave it a more friendly and homelike warmth. To his left was _Scribbulus Writing Instruments, _and to his right was a small café, already filled up with customers seeking tea and coffee to start there morning. _Eeylops Owl Emporium_ was loud and bustling, _Flourish and Blotts_ had a cashier setting up the newest best sellers in the window. _Madame Malkins_ had music floating out through its wide open doors, and _TerrorTours_, the wizarding travel agency that Nikolai's family always used to visit their family in Romania, had just turned their closed sign to read 'open'.

The Alley was up and running and Nikolai felt a childish sense of happiness grow in his stomach as he pulled his father to look at the newest brooms in _Quality Quidditch Supplies._ "Dad, can I get a broom?" he looked up at his father with puppy dog eyes. The brown haired man sighed, and said, "Only if your mother says so."

The two men grinned at each other before both of them turned to Mary with puppy dog eyes and pleaded with her, "Can I/Nikolai please get a broom?"

The woman rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No, how many times must we go over this! It's too dangerous and too much work, besides, we live in a muggle area. Where would you fly it?"

"I could take him to the field where I used to practice-"

"Not one word from you, Lucian. I don't trust you with a broom after '68."

"_Once, _I fall off my broom, and she doesn't let me touch one ever again." Lucian complained to Nikolai, who was snorting at his father's misfortune. "And I was bloody drunk!"

"Language, Lucian! I don't want Luminita's first word to be a swear word, and if it is, so help me-"

"It won't, dear, I promise."

Mary sighed as she gave Luminita to Lucian. "I'll take you up on that promise. You go to Flourish and Blotts and get me some of the books I need, and I'll take Nikolai to Madame Malkins. His dress robes are getting far too small." She handed Lucian the list.

Nikolai wrinkled his nose and tried to hide behind Lucian, but Mary tutted and pulled him out from behind him. "Oh, don't be like that. If you're good, once we're done shopping, maybe we can get ice cream."

The boy lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really?"

"But only if you're good."

He bobbed his head. "I will! I promise!"

Mary smiled and led Nikolai to Madame Malkins, with the boy trailing behind her, eagerly turning his head to both sides and wishing that he had eight eyes to see everything, like the stores down the side streets leading off of Diagon Alley. Madame Malkins wasn't busy at that time, so Nikolai and Mary didn't have to wait long for the witch herself to show them up to the stools. Mary and Madame Malkins easily starting chatting about the latest gossip or politics that was happening in the Wizarding World, as Nikolai shifted his weight on the stool as a needle threaded itself through the cloth and a tape measure took his height without any hands holding either of the tools.

The bell above the door rang, and although Nikolai couldn't see who it was, Mary's face lit up as she welcomed over the newcomer(s) with a loud greeting of, "Irina, Eiríkur! Wonderful to see you here!"

Nikolai looked up. There, awkwardly standing in the door, was a petite woman with her even smaller son, both who had fair skin, with light hair and blue-ish eyes, was the Icelandic ambassador and her only son, Eiríkur.

The Romanian liked Eiríkur. Usually, when he was stuck going to some event where the ambassadors brought their kids so they could brag about how amazing they were at magic, he sat with Eiríkur in the background, convincing the shy kid to participate in pranks to liven up the place. Sometimes he succeeded, sometimes he failed, but the Icelandic boy (who was about six or so) could come up with some amazing ideas that had even Nikolai feeling rather glad to have him on his side.

So yes, Nikolai very much liked Eiríkur. Much better than that mean old Norwegian kid, who for some reason always seemed to hang around Eiríkur.

"Hi!" Nikolai cheerfully said at the small boy when he came up to stand on the stool next to him, smacking him on the back in greeting. Eiríkur nearly fell off the stool, and gave his friend a halfhearted glare. "Hello."

"So what are you here for?"

"Robes."

Nikolai sighed. "I know that, but why are you doing _here,_ in the Alley?"

"Ah, mum needs some new potions ingredients. We decided to kill two birds with one stone, as you might say, but going and getting me some new robes."

The brown haired boy could never get over Eiríkur's awesome accent, he pronounced each word with an extra push behind the vowels, but his voice sounded so melodic that you didn't mind since he managed to make his sentences sound smooth.

"Neat! I'm doing the same, extra Ma wants to get some books. Dad wants a broom, but, well…"

Eiríkur hid his snicker behind his sleeve, and Nikolai smiled as he started to break the icey wall that Eiríkur always had up when they met.

"Hey, do you want to get ice cream with us?"

The pale boy blinked and looked at his mother, who had heard the tail end of their conversation. "Can we, mum?"

Irina pursed her lips and looked at Mary, who sighed and said, "Fine. I told Nikolai if he was good he'd get some, so I don't mind."

Eiríkur had a faint smile on his face, and Nikolai was grinning broadly as he jumped down from his stool and sat down next to his mother to wait for Eiríkur's fitting to finish.

The Icelandic boy probably knew that he was using him as an excuse to get ice cream, but that was what he loved about having him as his friend. Mary had a soft spot for Eiríkur, so she would get any chance she could to baby the younger boy.

Sweet!


	5. TH3 0LD M4N

**Notes:** Thanks for the follows/favourites! Very, very, very much appreciated. As is my dearest Janie (JanieNine) for reviewing.

Yes I did channel Homestuck, I'm a huge nerd and I love it to bits. God, I hope I'm the savoir of marysueness, if I ended up making a Mary Sue I'd probably disown myself from myself. So please tell me if I do. I'm making sure to give Nikolai normal qualities except for his mistake 'oh my god' eyes. I loved making him have red eyes, and then being stuck with them. You're going to see a lot of puns about them in here.

Anything new I would like to tell you? I'm very happy that people are looking at this story. ^^ I was worried about how well it would be received.

**Competitions and Challenges this is entered in:** The Long Haul Competition lll.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter. I only own my idea and character(s) that are far from being perfect human beings, thank you.

* * *

_THE GAME_

_HARRY POTTER: THE JOURNEY OF __ENIGMA_

* * *

Eiríkur finished his fitting a few minutes later and Nikolai was practically bouncing in his seat as he pulled the younger boy out of the shop and into the much more bustling alley. During the time they had spent cooped up in the store, Diagon Alley had filled up with more families and people, crowding the streets and making the once calm and quiet, but open street, feel bursting with the amount of people and the loud yells of shoppers.

Nikolai was pulling Eiríkur towards Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour when his mother called out "Nikolai, I'll meet you at the ice cream shop! Irina and I need to go to the bank quickly, will you sit quietly there and wait for us?"

Nikolai shouted back a response, but his mother had already been swallowed by the crowd. He dragged Eiríkur towards the shop, where there was already a small group of people forming a line. He got into line with the Icelandic boy and looked at the large chalkboard above their heads, telling the boys their choices. Irina and Mary soon joined them, and Nikolai had a lot of fun stealing Eirikur's ice cream and then whistling easily when the blue eyed boy shot him a glare.

Yes. His first trip to Diagon Alley was fun. He really enjoyed spending time with Eiríkur, who somehow ended up eating over half of the Romanian's ice cream, much too said boy's misfortune.

Diagon Alley was officially the best shopping center he had ever been to. _Ever._

[**New Goals Earned!**

**Best Friend – **_**200 points**_

**Stick a Pin in It! – **_**150 points**_

**Total Until Level Three: **_**440/5,000 points**_]

* * *

The rest of the week passed by in a familiar yet unfamiliar blur- eat, sleep, bug Mum and Pops, play with Luminita, avoid Mum so she wouldn't sit him down and make him do schoolwork, feel awful when Mary yelled at him and apologize, repeat- and before Nikolai knew it, Monday had arrived and a whole week went by since he was ejected from his real life into a make believe one.

It was also the day that he got his second letter.

_Greetings Player!_

_You have been fully immersed into our brilliant video reality, and now is about the time that you receive your five minutes of real life. Please step outside your 'home' between the hours of ten o'clock and eleven o'clock for your dose of life._

_-The Potterhead Inc. Team_

Nikolai blinked before he let out a startled gasp, glancing at the clock.

_11:54._

Shit! _(Better not let Mary hear that!)_

He practically sprinted out of his room, all the while complaining and cursing in his head- _why is it __**always **__me!? What god out there has it out to me that I am almost __**always **__late for everything!?Did I piss someone off in this game!? Or in real life!? – _and barely had enough time to yell out to Mary, who was cooking lunch in the kitchen, "Hey Mum be right back gotta go do something outside I saw a lizard I think bye-".

He nearly crashed into the door when he burst outside, and threw his head from left to right trying to see where the Team Potterhead Inc. reality person (or whatever they were called, he would just call them TPIRP until he saw them) could be waiting.

He didn't see anyone in front of the house, nor to the left or the right. TPIRP was nowhere to be seen. Nikolai deflated a little, his small lungs nearly heaving as he thought, 'Did I just run downstairs and outside like a madman for nothing?'

There was no one outside that looked remotely suspicious, or like they didn't belonged. The only person outside besides him was the old man across the street, who was humming something loudly and reading the newspaper.

Maybe that was him?

Nikolai hoped not. The old man smelled like week old soap and old people.

The seven year old wrinkled his nose and hesitated for a moment, before he cross the street. Nikolai carefully stepped over stepping stones that led to the old man's front door, and let out a loud gulp to signify that he was there as he stood directly in front of the old man.

No reaction from the old man, who continued humming cheerfully and chuckling as he read some stupid story in the newspaper.

"Uh, excuse me?"

"..."

"Sir?"

No reaction. Nikolai nearly stomped his foot.

_**"EXCUSE ME SIR. DO YOU WORK FOR POTTERHEAD INC. I BELIEVE I AM WITHIN THE TIME SET FOR OUT MEETING SO I MAY HAVE MY DOSE OF REALITY. WOULD YOU PLEASE BE SO KIND AND GIVE IT TO ME?"**_

The old man finally looked up. He had white hair that was thinly spread on his head, wrinkling hands that turned the page, and dark brown eyes that seemed to be somewhat annoyed with Nikolai at that moment. "I heard you the first time, brat."

_What a—_

"Well then why didn't you answer me the first time!?" Nikolai put his hands on his hips and gave the old man the closest to a glower the seven year old could pull off.

"You should have waited until I finished my paper."

"But that would take hours and we only have, like, three minutes!"

"Well then, you should have come earlier."

"I didn't see the note until two minutes ago!"

The man- or TPIRP- let out a 'tch' as he muttered something about 'insolent pests' under his breath. "Fine, fine. Come here."

Nikolai inched forward a little bit. "What are you going to do?" he asked suspiciously.

"I'm not a pedophile, brat, now get over here, the only way for me to give you your reality is if we are touching. Trust me, I don't want to touch you either, but you're going to have to suck up and deal with it."

Nikolai really hated this guy. First he ignored him, then he started acting like an ass, and then he said everything was _his _fault.

What a-

TPIRP put his wrinkled, veined filled veins on the top of Nikolai's head, and the young boy awkwardly shifted around from his left foot to his right foot as he glanced up at the old man's face, which showed signs of heavy concentration.

They stayed like that for a few more moments, before the old man nodded to himself and took his hand off of Nikolai's head. "There."

"…There what?"

"There was your real life."

Nikolai frowned, and patted his brown hair, as if expecting to find a miniature screen in it showing his other life. "I don't feel any different."

"Brat, you're really slow aren't you?"

The red eyed boy looked offended as he stared up at the older man. "Huh?"

"This _was _your dose of reality. Talking to me was. You were completely conscious about the fact that you were in a video game and that you needed to see me so you could get your reality, and you did. Tada."

"But- but-"

"Look, would you like me to spell it out in bright neon letters, a dance act, and sparkles? _You just had your reality. Your reality is talking to me while understanding that you are inside a game simulator."_

Nikolai opened and closed his mouth a few times, before shutting it with an audible 'clack'.

The old man nodded to himself. "Good boy. Now, run back to your mother, she's probably wondering about why you're talking to the old man across the street. Tell her you lost your ball and you thought you kicked it over into my yard, but you didn't. Capiche?"

Nikolai nodded once more.

"Good. Now run along."

The brown haired boy did exactly that, while thinking about everything that the old man had just told him.

_Yeah, the gods must really have it out for me, giving me an old man that hates my guts as my reality guide._


	6. M1N15TRY 0F M4G1C (P4RT 0N3)

**Notes:** Follows, favourites, always welcome. I'm happy people still like it!

Yes, early update, just in case, just because I had the idea and time to do so. I know, I updated yesterday, but I pumped this out today and I am terrible at waiting so here it is.

**Competitions and Challenges this is entered in:** The Long Haul Competition lll.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter. I only own my idea and character(s) that are far from being perfect human beings, thank you.

* * *

_THE GAME_

_HARRY POTTER: THE JOURNEY OF ENIGMA _

* * *

It was sometime during the hours after he had met the old man that Nikolai had realized he had not explained to the people beyond the fourth wall how his experience at the Ministry went. (Okay, really, fourth wall? What was he in, a movie? Story? Maybe he just wanted to have a flashback. Jesus Christ. Give the boy a break.) And so, this is how the story following the Diagon Alley experience went.

After he had stolen Eirikur's ice cream, and Irina and Mary had finally run out of gossip to talk about, the two families had parted when Lucian and Luminita arrived at Florean's (with, of course, Lucian complaining quietly to Nikolai the unfairness of himself lugging around a large stack of six thick books and a small little girl who kept on trying to wiggle out of the harness Lucian had on his back, while Mary sat around eating ice cream, which led to said female smacking the man upside the head and muttering about 'immature boys' under her breath.) and that was when Mary and Lucian traded children, and they had left the Alley and walked back to The Leaky Caldron.

"We'll be back in about an hour or so." Lucian told Mary as he handed Luminita to his wife. They stood in front of the fireplace with the Floo Powder clutched in Nikolai's hand in an old, dirty flower pot. "So you can make lunch, if you'd like, we should be back by then."

Mary nodded, her brown hair falling into her eyes that she hastily brushed away. "Alright. See you then." She leaned forward and pressed a short kiss on Lucian's cheek (Nikolai miming throwing up in the background, much to his parents' amusement) before waving goodbye and disappearing into the fireplace with Luminita and a charmed bag holding all the books and their purchases.

Lucian and Nikolai waited until Mary and Luminita completely disappeared; before Lucian grabbed Nikolai's hand and led him back out to the Alley's entrance. "Now hold on, this might be a little uncomfortable."

The older man turned on his heel and the two of them left the sight with a small _'Pop!'. _

Nikolai's first time apparitioning, or side along appaperating, made him absolutely _abhor _the way of traveling. He could understand why Harry had hated it, not only was it unpleasant, but he felt like he was being squished through a tube and then pulled down a drain in every direction. He felt like he was being ripped into pieces and somehow floating through the air at the same time and when he and his father had arrived at the Apparition point not one second later, Nikolai had smacked a hand to his mouth and felt as if he was going to throw up.

Lucian didn't look any better, wincing as he patted his son on the back. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

Nikolai shook his head, and threw his hands he managed to shriek out- "Why didn't we use, like, a car or something? Or a bike? Something less likely to make me throw up violently?"

Lucian sighed and shook his head mournfully, helping Nikolai up and waving his wand at the Guard on duty and his Ambassador ID card. "It takes far too long, and many people agree that it is far easier to use a portkey, or Floo Powder, or Apparition, because it takes a second or so to get from one place to the next, and you gradually grow immunity to the motion sickness. Besides, don't some people have motion sickness when they're in a car or aeroplane?"

"Well, yeah, but not to that extent…" Nikolai muttered to himself, before he and his father were cleared by the security guard and welcomed into the Ministry of Magic.

When Nikolai first caught sight of the Ministry, he was _slightly _disappointed. Oh sure, the lobby could be considered fairly cool. There were fountains and expensive pictures and statues all around the premises. Marble pillars held the room together and skylights filtered in from above, giving the room an almost unearthly look. Several people were milling around, talking quietly to their partners or rushing around, holding importantly looking envelops and papers. It looked like a grand entry way to an important building, which indeed it was.

However, what took away from the beauty (if you could call the extravagance that, it almost seemed _tasteless _when you got a good look at the real room) was the large statue in the middle.

It was nearly four times Lucian's height (which for a human man, was quite tall at six feet one) and made out of a dull brass-bronze. On the bottom of the statue were the images of centaurs, faeries, goblins, vampires, veelas, ghouls, and other magical creatures, carved into the metal with the same facial expression on all of them- pain. Horror. _Hatred._

Above them, the creatures arms stretched out to hold the large ordinate _king like_ chair, were images of humans. Witches and Wizards sat proudly on the throne, almost lifelike as they were captured in midair, playing around the chair like children. A tall man sat in the chair, proud and cruel was his smile as he looked down at the poor creatures that held up his throne, and he had a cold dignity around him that made Nikolai feel like punching him in the face.

They treated the other magical folk like they were _animals, _and that they were inferior to wizards.

Nikolai clenched his fists, but before he could storm up to the horrible piece of artwork, his father led him away by hand and pulled him to the elevators on their left.

As soon as the door shut closed on them, and they headed up to the ninth floor where Lucian's office was located, Nikolai exploded. His red eyes were bright and wild as he nearly yelled at his father, _"Who's idea was it to put that statue there!?"_

Lucian almost looked confused- _this wasn't the first time Nikolai had been to the Ministry, the boy had suddenly remembered, and he certainly was not so passionate about the statue or their travel methods before- _before he said honestly, "The Minister put it in. It caused quite the controversy when people first saw it. There were a few revolts, but the Minister calmed them before they reached the public news." His lips curled into a sneer as he thought about the statue. "There is a reason why no magical creature is welcomed in the Ministry of Magic, not that they would like to step inside while people running the place have pieces like _that _in the front entry way."

He shook his head, and the elevator dinged open. Lucian and Nikolai stepped out of the elevator and onto the ninth floor, which was quiet since it was the off day for most of the workers at the Ministry.

Lucian, and his fellow Ambassadors, were the only people on the very large floor, but the floor was mostly empty since the British Ministry had cut off most of its contacts with the other magical parts of the nations, only really keeping in contact with the very, very, _very _magical nations, the ones who were known for their folk lore, such as the Scandinavian countries, France, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Japan, Haiti, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and such others.

While it might seem fairly long (and often Nikolai had trouble remembering which nations were part of the treaty that stuck them together) the list was fairly short in comparison to the one, say, the United States and Canada had. They had good contacts with all the magical parts of the nations, never mind the fact if there was a central wizarding world during the beginning of its formation or whether it was because witches and wizards had migrated there.

On another note, the Ambassadors to Britain usually gathered together for world meetings twice every year, and it was customary to bring your children to the event to brag about how brilliant they were at magic. That was where Nikolai was aquatinted with Eiríkur, the Icelandic representative's son, where he made an immediate dislike to the Norwegian representive son, the ever cold and stoic Lukas who for some reason always seemed to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and had a dislike for Nikolai's 'pranks', and made general friends with Marie and Peren, the French ambassador's daughters, and other people like Leo, Hasan, Kagome, Bronte, et cetera.

But that was enough of that, Nikolai would spend more time explaining that at a later time since Lucian had just arrived at his spacious corner office and was fiddling with the key, when a loud yell startled the two of them.

"_Здравствуйте, друзья!"_

If Nikolai didn't understand that bit of Russian he would have been terrified of the yell that said _"HELLO FRIENDS!"._


End file.
